This compelling memoir of Richard N. Gardner's years as ambassador to Italy from 1977 to 1981 offers fascinating insights into the foreign policy of the Carter administration as well as into a critical turning point in Italy's history. This turbulent period was marked by the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, the failed attempt of the Italian Communist Party to take power, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the seizure of American hostages in Tehran. It was also the time of Italy's historic decision to deploy U.S. cruise missiles, which Mikhail Gorbachev identified as a decisive factor in his decision to shift Soviet foreign policy toward genuine disarmament and peaceful cooperation based on the free choice of political systems. Drawing on hitherto classified material, Gardner shows how wise diplomacy under president Jimmy Carter's leadership played a part in the defeat of communism in Italy and in the eventual collapse of the Soviet empire. His riveting diplomatic narrative is filled with fascinating portraits of American and Italian leaders as well as revealing details of policy differences inside the Carter Administration and between Washington and Gardner's Rome Embassy. The result is a major contribution to our understanding of crisis diplomacy and of the victory of the Western alliance in the Cold War. Balanced, scrupulous, and compelling, Gardner's memoir will be invaluable reading for all those interested in the inner workings of U.S. foreign policy, diplomacy, and European politics.

"This is an engaging and highly readable book which throws light upon U.S. foreign policy during the Carter administration." - Political Studies Review

"This is a fascinating book that says a lot about American diplomacy and attitudes towards Italian politics." - Journal of Contemporary European Studies

"To understand Italian politics fully in that crucial period of Italian history it is indispensable to read . . . Ambassador Gardner’s critically important memoir." - Relations Internationales

"Gardner had the true diplomatic ability to say even unpalatable things in a polite fashion. If he disappointed many hopes, he left Italian-American relations in a much healthier state than he found them, and that is no small praise for an ambassador." - The New York Review Of Books

"[Gardner's] latest book proves him an able historian as well as an accomplished diplomat. . . . [I feel] gratitude that so important an epoch in American and European history has been recorded so authoritatively and so interestingly. . . . A book worth reading and worth remembering." - New York Law Journal